TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2017 is all in on artificial intelligence and machine learning

As fields of research, machine learning and artificial intelligence both date back to the 50s. More than half a century later, the disciplines have graduated from the theoretical to practical, real world applications. We’ll have some of the top minds in both categories to discuss the latest advances and future of AI and ML on stage and Disrupt San Francisco in just over a month.

We’ll be joined on stage by Brian Krzanich of Intel, John Giannandrea of Google, Sebastian Thrun of Udacity and Andrew Ng of Baidu, to outline the various ways these cutting edge technologies are already impacting our lives, from simple smart assistants, to self-driving cars. It’s a broad range of speakers, which is good news, because we’ve got a lot of ground to cover in some of the industry’s most exciting advances.

John (JG) Giannandrea, SVP Engineering at Google:Giannandrea joined Google in 2010, when the company acquired his startup Metaweb Technologies, a move that formed the basis for the search giant’s Knowledge Graph technology. Last year, Google appointed Giannandrea the head of search, the latest indication of the company’s deep interest for machine learning and AI. Teaching machines to be smarter is a long time passion for the executive, who told Fortune in a 2016 interview that, “computers are remarkably dumb.” Giannandrea will discuss the work he’s doing at Google to fix exactly that.

Sebastian Thrun, Founder, Udacity: Prior to founding online educational service Udacity, Sebastian Thrun headed up Google X, helping make artificial intelligence a foundational key for the company’s moonshot products. The topic has been a long time passion for the CMU computer science grad, in fact, he now teaches a course on the subject at Udacity. The introductory Artificial Intelligence for Robotics class takes students through the basics of AI and the ways in which the technology is helping pave the way for his other key passion, self-driving cars.

Andrew Ng, Former Chief Scientist at Baidu: Earlier this year, Andrew Ng stepped down from his role as the head of Baidu’s AI Group. In a post for Medium announcing the move, the executive reconfirmed his commitment to the space, noting that AI “will also now change nearly every major industry — healthcare, transportation, entertainment, manufacturing .” After Baidu, NG has shifted his focus toward harnessing artificial intelligence for the benefit of larger society, beyond just a single company, targeting a broad range of industries from healthcare to conversational computing.

Brian Krzanich, CEO Intel: When Brian Krzanich took over as Intel CEO in 2013, the company was reeling from an inability to adapt from desktop computing to mobile devices. Under his watch, he’s shifted much of Intel’s resources to forward thinking technologies, from 5G networks and cloud computing to drones and self-driving cars. Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning are at the heart of much of Intel’s forward looking plans, as the company works to stay on the bleeding edge of technology breakthroughs.

Alongside this main-stage panel, we’ll also have an Off The Record session on AI with some of the top minds in the field, which will only be available to attendees at Disrupt. Plus, there are plenty of startups in Startup Alley this year that are focusing in on machine learning.

We’re incredibly excited to be joined by so many top names, and hope you’ll be there as well. Early bird general admission tickets are still available for what’s shaping up to be another blockbuster Disrupt.